UPDATE 12/28/2009: The revised AE-Allies Setup Spreadsheet has been uploaded. It contains 793 changes (from a total line count of 4600) For those who have used (or are using) the previous version, just go to the new column "AA" and filter on "1". This will show ONLY the elements which have changed, making it much easier to edit your starting setup. For a more detailed list of the changes and improvements, see the "changelog" in Post #5 below. (The link in this post has been updated so it contains the new spreadsheet) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As noted in this earlier thread, I've been developing a spreadsheet that will help Allied players complete the nightmarish "Day 2 turn" - if not quickly, at least much faster than would normally be the case. There are roughly 4589 individual Bases (876), LCUs (1186), Ships (1430), Air Groups (376), and Industry elements (721), all of which can potentially be adjusted in the course of the Day 2 turn. Needless to say, that is a daunting prospect. So what this spreadsheet offers is a set of instructions for EVERY one of those 4589 individual elements. I don't pretend to be a WitP Master, and my choices are certainly open to debate. Nevertheless, I hope this will help folks get past those opening turn jitters and give them a solid base upon which to build in the days and months to come.

Strategically, all unit movements and/or adjustments were made to support a fairly conservative Allied approach. The primary objectives (at the 50,000 foot level) are as follows:

1) Hold Burma 2) Build up bases in Eastern India 3) Holding action in China (limited offensives, but mostly moving troops into defensible positions) 4) US Carriers positioned to assault either Wake or the Marshalls 5) Limited "Sir Robin" in DEI and Phillipines combined with aggressive SCTF activity 6) Detailed network of Search & ASW planes at key locations (interlocking verified and tweaked) 7) Almost all subs sent on patrol (with patrol zones detailed) 8) Get convoys moving between the US and Pearl Harbor/Australia & Abadan/Aden/Capetown and India 9) Begin to establish a line of bases between US and Australia 10) Preparations for building out the Aleutians

If this sounds like your cup of tea, here's the plan to get you started:

(Note: The attachment below will always be updated to contain the most recent spreadsheet revision)

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's what the AE-Setup Spreadsheet looks like. Each column has a story:

Col A: Counter - This is the "row count". When using a filter button (lets say you wanted to work on all the "Alaska" region bases and units first), the counter in Cell A6 tells you how many rows of data you are working on (Alaska = 93). Col B: Region - Every location on the map falls into one of 48 regions. It's one way to work on your Turn 2 selections in "bite size chunks". The Base data came from the WitP AE Tracker dataset (of which some was edited), and was manually extended to units. Col C: Location - The hex location of every base and unit. Modified WitP AE Tracker data. Col D: Location Name - If the hex has a name (i.e. it's a Base of some sort), here it is. Modified WitP AE Tracker data. Col E: Type - There are five row "types": Bases, Air Groups, LCUs, Ships, and Industry. New field, not from Tracker. Col F: Unit Name - The name of each unit. Straight from the WitP AE Tracker datasets. Col G: Unit Model/Type - Applies only to the units. Again, unmodified data from WitP AE Tracker. Col H: HQ - Applies only to Bases, Air Groups, and LCUs. Unmodified data from WitP AE Tracker. Col I: Nation - Applies only to Bases, Air Groups, and LCUs. Heavily modified data from WitP AE Tracker. Col J: ID - Unit ID. Not sure if it's any use, but where it was provided by WitP AE Tracker, it's loaded here. Col K: Code - Indicates the restriction status of units, and is also used to determine whether a base has a Garrison requirement (Conditional formatting automatically changes the cell color): 1: Unrestricted units. Can be moved to any base. 2: Restricted units. Can spend PP to switch to an unrestricted HQ (thus allowing moves to any base) 3: Restricted units. Cannot spend PP to change the HQ. Some "static" units allow HQ changes but they are marked as "3" because they can't move anyway. G: Base has a Garrison Requirement (see Comments in Column L for details). Certain types of damage can occur when requirement is not met (see Manual for details) Col L: Comments - The meat of the spreadsheet. You can either follow my recommendations or tweak them to apply to your own strategy. Rather obviously, this is a new field, not from Tracker. Here's the meaning of the colored fonts used in the Comments field: - Black: Take action as indicated - Red: Either have to make a decision or ensure that indicated action takes place at a later date - Blue: Search coordinates - Green: Instructions given to planes aboard a ship - Purple: Change made to a pre-existing TF (i.e. on-map on Turn 1)

Here's a screenshot of the second half of the spreadsheet. You may have been wondering about those descriptions in rows 1-5 of column D. They exist because I did something in this spreadsheet which is normally a bad idea - the data in columns M thru Y varies depending upon the "Type" (column E). I did this for a few reasons: - First of all, most of this data is interesting but most people won't use it when making their Turn 2 choices. - Secondly, it allowed me to shrink the width of the spreadsheet by a factor of three, which greatly enhances "usability". - Thirdly, all of this data was taken directly from the WitP AE Tracker datasets, and is entirely unmodified.

So how do you interpret this? It's actually pretty easy:

- If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "Industry", then use the column headings in row 1 (applies to columns M-P) - If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "Bases", then use the column headings in row 2 (applies to columns M-S) - If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "LCU", then use the column headings in row 3 (applies to columns M-S) - If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "Ship", then use the column headings in row 4 (applies to columns M-U) - If you are viewing a row in which the "type" is "Air Group", then use the column headings in row 5 (applies to columns M-Y)

In addition to the Allies Set-up spreadsheet tab (described above), there are three additional tabs to capture the delayed arrival of Air Groups, LCUs, and Ships. Ultimately I'd like to combine them all into a single tab, but the column headings are somewhat different, and it will take a while to organize. Plus, my game uses the +/- 15 day variable reinforcement setting, and that may have borked all the dates. So use with caution. Keep in mind that you don't need this information to proceed with your turn 2 dispositions, but it can be useful.

In the screenshot below, we're looking at the LCU tab (the other two are similar). The key field is Column E, which shows the "Days until Arrival" for each of the units listed in Column B. I've hidden a lot of rows to give a better view of the color coding: Dark Green: Units scheduled to arrive within the first month. Light Green: Units scheduled to arrive within the first 100 days. Realistically, planning beyond this period is probably not going to be useful at the "Day 2" stage of game. Yellow: Units scheduled to arrive within the first year. No color: Units arriving after the first year.

Column G is basically a guess as to the restricted status of the arriving units (based upon the HQ). It uses the same color coding described for Column K of the Set-up tab (see Post #2 above), although it's probable that many of the "Red Threes" are really "twos" (again, I can't tell that from the HQ name alone). One major element missing from this spreadsheet is the "Arrival Location". Unfortunately that's not captured in the WitP AE Tracker data dump, although it would be very useful!

1. Added Column AA to "Allies Set-up" tab This contains a "1" in every row which has changed since the previous release Just filter on "1" and you'll see only the rows which are different

2. Added Column Z to "Allies Set-up" tab Lists the number of PPs expended should you follow the recommendations. The PP total appears in Cell "E3" Players can make changes here and see the total PP count add up in E3 (so you'll know if you are below the 150 limit)

3. Strategy changes (high level): Improved strategy for Chinese LCUs Greater use of Naval Search vs. ASW for "short-range" air units Pearl Harbor Naval Unit instructions are listed, but most of the TFs are not created until KB leaves the area - this averts a horrible slaughter on the 8th. No PPs are expended, but those which are recommended can be filtered for quick viewing Accounts for all the new Garrison requirement changes (mostly in China, Burma, & India). New strategies involving mines and air-evac A wholesales revision of all the recommendations involving "auto-disband" (which only works when the TF arrives at it's home port, NOT the target port!) Reinforcements are now "fixed". The previous spreadsheet used the +/-14 day setting, which thus included "random arrival" units A major "cleanup" of incorrect regions - most changes involved removing bases from Dutch New Guinea and the Solomons

5. Warning: Do not rely on the dates listed on the "Air Group Delays", "LCU Delays", and "Ship Delays" tabs! These have NOT been updated for Version "D" (mainly because they are helpful but not critical to performing Day 2 setup - I'll fix them in a future release)

Thanks for the supportive comments, guys! And also to the 72 folks (and counting) who've already downloaded it! As I play further into the game, I'll come back and create revisions if it turns out that some of my force dispositions are....less than optimal! So far it's already obvious that AI-KB's tendency to loiter around Pearl Harbor means that most of my recommended TFs there are little more than suicide missions. Plus, I'm pretty sure that I can improve the West Coast Search & ASW net. Otherwise it seems to be playing out rather well.

2) Uses the Enhanced Japan Scenario 2 as the baseline instead of Ironman Scenario 9 (S-2 is more likely to be the scenario of choice for new players, which is probably the majority of folks who will use this)

3) Changes include: - Improved strategy for Chinese LCUs. - Greater use of Naval Search vs. ASW for "short-range" air units - Pearl Harbor Naval Unit instructions are listed, but most of the TFs are not created until KB leaves the area - this averts a horrible slaughter on the 8th. - No PPs are expended, but those which are recommended can be sorted on and counted up (the player can easily make his own changes and follow the count to ensure it's less than 150). - Accounts for all the new Garrison requirement changes (mostly in China, Burma, & India). - New strategies involving mines and Air-evac using Transports. - A wholesales clarification of the recommendations involving "auto-disband" (which only works when the TF arrives at it's home port, NOT the target port!) - Reinforcements are now "fixed". The previous spreadsheet used the +/-14 day setting, and that meant the spreadsheet was using units which most players won't have in hand for days or weeks, lus the "delay" tabs were completely unreliable.

I'm making a few minor adjustments to make it a bit more "user-friendly", and will try and post it later tonite.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

How long did you work on this?

The first version took over two months to build, and the Patch 2 revision took about another month to finish and test!

This is superb! Great job, Think with the latest patch and 3 hotfixes, I am almost ready to start an Ironman!!

I will definitely have the spreadsheet open to assist. Though, of course the plans will be different.

Before deciding on the Ironman, wanted to find out just HOW much harder it is over the Base and 2nd Scenario. Thanks to WitP Tracker, am finishing up a comparison of the difference in Forces from Scenario 1 (Base Case), Scenario 2 (Hakko Ichiu - enhanced Japan) and Scenario 10 (Ironman - bad-ass Japan). Found a few data anomalies - will post those, those are mainly double-named units/ships - so no real "errors". Doing a Word document but can place in an Excel spreadsheet - loaded all the exported data into Access and did work in there.

The main diff for other planes is the Betty bumpup: G4M1 Betty 157 277 277 +144

The biggest increase in ships is in DDs and Escorts, plus lots more Transports/Cargo. Think I may do the Ironman on Historical level of difficulty, and with all those new Escorts, may have to have Reliable USN Torps.

This is superb! Great job, Think with the latest patch and 3 hotfixes, I am almost ready to start an Ironman!!

I will definitely have the spreadsheet open to assist. Though, of course the plans will be different.

Before deciding on the Ironman, wanted to find out just HOW much harder it is over the Base and 2nd Scenario. Thanks to WitP Tracker, am finishing up a comparison of the difference in Forces from Scenario 1 (Base Case), Scenario 2 (Hakko Ichiu - enhanced Japan) and Scenario 10 (Ironman - bad-ass Japan). Found a few data anomalies - will post those, those are mainly double-named units/ships - so no real "errors". Doing a Word document but can place in an Excel spreadsheet - loaded all the exported data into Access and did work in there.

The main diff for other planes is the Betty bumpup: G4M1 Betty 157 277 277 +144

The biggest increase in ships is in DDs and Escorts, plus lots more Transports/Cargo. Think I may do the Ironman on Historical level of difficulty, and with all those new Escorts, may have to have Reliable USN Torps.

Hope you find it useful. Your garrison contributions to the original thread were the very first things to go into the spreadsheet (although they've since been modified since partisan action can longer damage industry). Some interesting observations on the differences between the Japanese starting forces in each scenario. I knew there was a big bump up in S-9, but was surprised to see that much of a delta between S-1 and S-2

quote:

ORIGINAL: ckk

Remarkable work. It got me started on AE

Really glad to hear that - it's one of the main reasons I developed the spreadsheet! It'll probably be a while until the next release, but a few things you'll see in the next version (which means "go ahead and do this now!"):

1) Move most of the Chinese air units from Chengtu to Chunking (not enough Aviation Support in Chengtu, plus it's only a size 1 A/F)

2) Doublecheck the transports and cargo TFs that are traveling to small bases. Only amphibous TFs can drop supply or troops into a base with a Size-0 port. You can switch Cargo TFs to amphibious at sea or even at destination, but not so with transports (apparently because the Strat Move troop mode is "transport only")

3) Get an AGP on the way to Jolo on the very first turn (you'll need it to keep your PT TFs fully stocked with torpedoes for use in the Phillipines)

I'm a newcomer to the world of WiTP-AE and this spreadsheet will be helpful in figuring out what to do on the 2nd day. It will definitely take a while to study and figure out all of the interconnections with this, but I suspect it will be worthwhile. Thanks for making this available.

_____________________________

Free men do not ask permission to bear arms. GnuPG public key available at: pgp.mit.edu

I'm a newcomer to the world of WiTP-AE and this spreadsheet will be helpful in figuring out what to do on the 2nd day. It will definitely take a while to study and figure out all of the interconnections with this, but I suspect it will be worthwhile. Thanks for making this available.

quote:

ORIGINAL: sdevault

Glad I found this gem! Thanks Kull.... I wish I had your time

One reason I took the time is because I undertand so well how intimidating AE is to a new player. And it's such a great game, that it was worth it to me to do something that might help folks get started on their long, slow, journey up the "learning cliff". Everytime I hear the words, "this will really help", it just makes all the effort worthwhile!

I'm just starting my first full blown campaign and was fighting with all the Search Arcs, Airgroups, etc. (still haven't done anything with LCUs, TFs or supplies, etc.) when I discovered this fantastic spreadsheet! I also was glad to discover (being a totally n00b to this game) that some of the decisions I took were the same as you suggest